Off the back of his impressive opening round submission win over former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson – fellow TUF winner, Michael Chiesa has urged the Oxnard native to finally shut the door on his faltering combat sports career.
Ferguson, a former interim lightweight champion and winner of The Ultimate Fighter at the welterweight limit, set an unwanted record earlier this month at UFC Abu Dhabi, suffering an eighth consecutive defeat in a rear-naked choke loss to the above-mentioned, Chiesa.
And with the loss, Tony Ferguson, a one-time record-setting 12-fight winning streaker at the lightweight limit, surpassed former two-division champion, B.J. Penn as the fighter with the longest losing skid in the history of the organization.
Michael Chiesa urges Tony Ferguson to retire amid UFC Abu Dhabi loss
Weighing up his fighting future after claiming he had nothing else he could turn his hand to in life if he ended his combat sports career, Ferguson has been urged to nevertheless hang up his gloves once and for all by Chiesa.
“I hope he (Tony Ferguson) just stops competing,” Michael Chiesa told BJ Penn. “If he wants to scratch that itch and compete, I’m sure there are a lot of Jiu-Jitsu promotions that would pay Tony a lot of money to grapple. I just don’t want to see him take any headshots anymore. That is speaking to a brother that I’m in the same fraternity with. Him and I both won The Ultimate Fighter, I say that with compassion.”
“You can still make omney and compete in Jiu-Jitsu, I just don’t think it is a financial thing for Tony,” Chiesa explained. “I think he is a fierce competitor, the guy likes to compete, he is very athletic, I just don’t think he should take any shots anymore.”
And amid claims from Ferguson how he would seek booking in another promotion if UFC boss, Dana White decides to prevent him from fighting, Chiesa claims a move to another organization is not a good option either.
“…I’m pretty sure that will be the last time we see him in the UFC,” Chiesa said. “The only way you want to keep him in the UFC is to protect him from the people outside the UFC that are going to try and sign him.”